Titan Maximum Creators: Fanboys Are Taking Over

Matt Senreich and Tom Root, the stop-motion fanboys behind Robot Chicken, goofed mecha mythology silly in the first season of their show Titan Maximum, available this month on DVD.

The booming geek culture skewered by the duo's Adult Swim shows makes for a target-rich environment. "I think it’s safe to say that fanboys are slowly taking over the world," Root told Wired.com in an e-mail round-table. "But I think people should be terrified by that and not take any great comfort in it."

Judging by the space-faring clowns of the massive robot ship Titan Maximum, Root could be right. More than 100 years in the future, the Titan Force Five pilot squadron is either saving the solar system from repeated destruction, or repeatedly trying to to destroy said solar system through a volatile mixture of technology and incompetence.

Featuring Breckin Meyer, Rachel Leigh Cook, Robot Chicken pal Seth Green and Billy Dee Williams, Titan Maximum is an excellent late-night time-waster. But can it hold its own against other hardy sci-fi crews from Star Trek, Voltron and Battle of the Planets? Is its narcissistic leader any match for that space whore Captain Kirk? Is there even going to be a second season?

We forced Root and Senreich to ponder these tough questions in a geeked-out interview. Scroll through the image gallery above for the straight dope on what is probably the most infamous crew of dopes in television's expanding galaxy.

Wired.com: How does the Titan Max crew stand up against other space-faring crews? And why are they usually led by narcissists, yours being Commander Palmer?

Tom Root (in puppet form above): I think it’s just sort of true of life that the people with the most self-confidence end up in leadership roles, even if they’re completely unsuited for it. I mean just look at our last president ... but uhh ... no offense if you’re a Republican. And I think our team would get crushed by say the crew of the original Enterprise, just because we have sort of the least-competent group of people.

Matt Senreich: What about Battlestar Galactica?

Root: Yeah, they’d get killed. They’d get killed by Battle of the Planets because they’re all ninjas.

Senreich:Voltron? Might be a match up.

Root:Voltron would be a good match up for them. Also, I think our guys can beat the Power Rangers.

Wired.com: Also, yours has a harlot, Lt. Junior Grade Sasha Caylo (above). Can you name some other famous harlots from sci-fi crews that inspired you? And yes, you can include Kirk.

Senreich: I mean, Katee Sackoff wasn’t really a harlot, but she was like the tough girl who had sex with a lot of people. Trying to think.... Princess Leia kissed her brother but that doesn't quite work.

Root: I think it was Kirk who was sort of mowing down all the harlots -– you know, the green ones.

Senreich: Wasn’t there a shape-changer who he was going to have sex with and then he turned into himself in Star Trek VI?

Root: I hope not.

Senreich: There was!

Wired.com: Personal favorite sci-fi joke of the season? Best mecha spoof scene of the season?

Senreich (in puppet form above): There's something really funny to me about how the team left and deserted Gibbs when they were getting drawn in to a tractor beam and the leg comes off and they just leave him behind.

Root: I really like the idea that at any time they can control the limbs themselves and we have the two arms get into a slap fight. I think that's a good example of taking advantage of the genre.

Wired.com: What's in store for the next season? Is there going to be a next season?

Root: All signs point to yes. It is only a matter of scheduling.

Senreich: The answer we've been giving to everybody is that we're so deep in production on Robot Chicken and Robot Chicken: Star Wars 3, that’s a matter of us sitting down and finding the time. [Titan Maximum is] a passion project for us and we really want to do another season. The question is how and when.

Wired.com:Robot Chicken and Titan Maximum, along with similar repurposings like the stellar Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, have helped Cartoon Network lead the way in animated satire this century. Is imitation another form of creation, rather than just flattery? Where do you draw the line, or is erasing it more fun?

Root: Our philosophy on these things -– or at least my philosophy -- is that as kids, we were sort of at the mercy of a lot of popular entertainment that wasn't very good. And for us to now disassemble or destroy all of those things we were subjected to as kids, I take a lot of pleasure in that and I think there's something valuable in that.

Senreich: The only thing I will add to what Tom said is that, at the time, it was the greatest thing ever. But you look at kids' programming today and it's probably a lot more intelligent humor. I look at things like Animaniacs and I think it's far more entertaining than something like He-Man was.

Root: We got screwed in our generation. Right as we stopped being kids, all of the entertainment that was available to kids suddenly got way, way better, so I think we’re sort of bitter.

Senreich: What’s funny is that I used Animaniacs as a kids show and I think that was the '90s.

Root: Yeah, but we watched it even though we were in college.

Senreich: I wish SpongeBob was on when we were kids. SpongeBob is great. We were rused!